Cast members of “Crazy Rich Asians” are calling out the media for what actor Remy Hii says is an act of ignorance and identity erasure.
On Monday, Hii shared a screenshot on Twitter from “Crazy Rich Asians” co-star Ronny Chieng’s Instagram story (which Chieng also tweeted Tuesday) that showed a screenshot from People.com, where Chieng and actress Tan Kheng Hua were misidentified as actors Randall Park and Jae W. Suh at a SAG Awards after party. The photo caption also identifies Michelle Yeoh as being in the picture, although she is not.
“To the journalists consistently at fault, I refuse to believe you’ve never mistaken a Bomer for a Cavill, an Adams for a Fisher, a Hemsworth for a Hemsworth,” Hii tweeted, adding that it happens consistently to people of color.
“It’s always just an ‘honest mistake,’” Hii continued, before concluding in another tweet: “Do better.”
Hii didn’t link specifically to the article, but the photo appears on People.com in a slideshow of photos from the SAG Awards after party. As of Tuesday morning, the caption for the photo has been corrected.
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This isn’t the first time a publication has come under fire for misidentifying actors of Asian descent. On Sunday, journalist and activist Noor Tagouri called out Vogue on Twitter for misidentifying Tan Kheng Hua for Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Chan for Liv Lo.
Tagouri’s tweet came just weeks after she tweeted about being a featured model in the February issue of Vogue. In a video captured by her friend, Tagouri is seen opening the issue for the first time only to discover that she has been misidentified as Pakistani actress Noor Bukhari.
“Misrepresentation and misidentification is a constant problem if you are Muslim in America. And as much as I work to fight this, there are moments like this where I feel defeated,” Tagouri tweeted.
Vogue has since issued an official apology. “We also understand that there is a larger issue of misidentification in media – especially among nonwhite subjects,” the apology read. “We will try to be more thoughtful and careful in our work going forward.”
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